Edmund & Martha Wattis Home

This home was designed for Edmund Orson Wattis by Eber Piers and built in 1914. It is a premier example of the Prairie School Style of architecture. Edmund Orson Wattis was born in 1855 in Uintah and worked on the first transcontinental railroad. In 1901, he became director the Utah Construction Company, the major contracting firm in the West. Utah Construction was involved in the building of numerous dams among which was Boulder Dam in Nevada, Guernsey Dam in Wyoming and American Falls Dam in Idaho Mr. Wattis married Martha Ann Bybee and had 7 children. Mrs. Wattis was active in social and civic affairs, the most notable being the Red Cross Community Chest, Eastern Star and the Utah Federation. In 1944, Henry Benning, who was President of Amalgamated Sugar Company bought the home. Known as ”Mr. Sugar”, Mr. Benning was instrumental in the expansion and reorganization of Amalgamated Sugar. He lived in the home with his wife, Edna A. Eaton Benning and son Arthur.*

2540 Eccles Avenue in Eccles Avenue Historic District and in the Ogden’s Central Bench Historic District in Ogden, Utah